by By Stu Durando ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH , St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The key characters have departed or been banished. And along with the turnover has come a restart on a rebuilding project for one of the most storied college basketball programs in the country.

A Big Ten and national power during coach Kelvin Sampson's second season, the Hoosiers have been reduced to bit players under Crean, who leads Indiana into a meeting with Illinois today at 2 p.m. in Champaign.

But despite some of the growing pains his team has endured while starting 5-9, the basketball court has provided a respite after the months of tumult that followed his hiring.

"We're still going to have to live with the results of the past and some of the decisions that were made,'' Crean said. "There were a lot of days that were hard. The things you heard and the things that were rumored were probably worse, to be honest. Worse than what I thought it was.

"I went in with both eyes wide open. You can't be a coach in college basketball and not hear some of the rumors. But you deal with it and move forward.''

Sampson was forced to resign in the middle of last season after the NCAA found that he had committed major violations connected to a phone-call scandal. Indiana was ultimately placed on three years of probation.

The players who led Indiana to the 2008 NCAA Tournament dispersed in a variety of ways: graduation, the NBA draft, transfer and dismissal. Crean was left with two players who entered the program as walk-ons and combined to average 1.6 points last season.

Thus far, six of the team's top eight scorers are freshmen and the results have been largely predictable, although the Hoosiers have made things uncomfortable for some opponents.

"He's in a tough situation and he's done a great job,'' Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "He's getting a lot out of his guys and they have so many new guys. It's like what we went through last year, but they have even more. He's doing as good a job as anybody in the league.''

The roster already was being decimated when Crean arrived. Armon Bassett and Jamarcus Ellis had been dismissed by interim coach Dan Dakich and Crean upheld that move. Then he released DeAndre Thomas.

Eric Gordon left after one season for the NBA along with senior D.J. White. And Jordan Crawford (Xavier), Eli Holman (Detroit) and Brandon McGee (Auburn) transferred.

"There were a lot of days in April, May and June that left a lot to be desired,'' Crean said. "But that was part of it. Nobody could have seen that. It's not like you can take a left turn, sit at the beach three days and hope it goes away.''

But he was quick to add: "There have been no regrets in any area, not taking the job or decisions that were made.''

Just when it appeared the Sampson era was in the past, Gordon emerged in December to tell the Indianapolis Star of drug use among unnamed players last season.

This season has offered a different type of pain. Indiana has played a tough schedule that includes Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Gonzaga. But some of the toughest moments have come more recently.

The Hoosiers lost at home to Northeastern while scoring 42 points. They blew a 21-point lead at home in a loss to Lipscomb. Then when it looked like they were ready to make a breakthrough on Wednesday night, they squandered a 20-point second-half lead at home and lost to Michigan in overtime.

"It shows we are getting better and making progress,'' said Jones, who is a native of Champaign. "It was a tough game and it hurts right now, but we just have to keep working. ... We don't want to feel like this again.''

Although the loss was tough to swallow, Crean has tried to emphasize learning over results. Many suspect this is a temporary lull. Crean has an incoming recruiting class in 2009 that is loaded with top-100 players.

So, despite the painful losses, he remains optimistic.

"I don't have any trouble bouncing back,'' he said after the Michigan loss. "And they won't have any trouble looking at me and seeing that.''

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Illinois VS. Indiana

Rankings: Illinois is 13-2 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten ; Indiana is 5-9 and 0-2; neither team is ranked.

Trend: The Illini lost at home in overtime to the Hoosiers last year, largely because they made only eight of 17 free throws. Illinois has improved from 60.8 percent to 72.5 percent from the line since last season. ... Center Mike Tisdale is averaging 17 points over the last six games. ... Eastern Michigan transfer Devan Dumes is the only Hoosier with previous Division I experience.

Starters

Indiana No. Pos./Name Ht. PPG 25 F Tom Pritchard 6-9 12.5 2 G Matt Roth 6-3 5.9 12 G Verdell Jones 6-5 8.1 20 G Nick Williams 6-4 8.8 33 G Devan Dumas 6-2 13.7

Illinois 24 F Mike Davis 6-9 11.9 54 C Mike Tisdale 7-1 11.7 32 G D. McCamey 6-3 12.0 1 G Trent Meacham 6-2 11.7 3 G Chester Frazier 6-2 5.8

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BIG TEN CONFERENCE

conf total w l w l Wisconsin 3 0 12 3 Michigan State 3 0 11 3 Minnesota 2 1 14 1 Penn State 2 1 13 3 Michigan 2 1 12 3 Illinois 1 1 13 2 Ohio State 1 2 11 3 Iowa 1 2 11 5 Purdue 0 2 11 4 Indiana 0 2 5 9 Northwestern 0 3 8 5

Friday's result Ohio St. 89, Houston Baptist 65

Today's games Kansas at Michigan St., noon Indiana at Illinois, 3 p.m.

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